AVON LAKE -- Avon Lake City School officials are relieved after being granted a $1.5 million tax revenue advance from the Lorain County Auditor's Office yesterday after a late tax payment by NRG Energy Inc.

"We are thrilled," said Avon Lake City Schools Treasurer Autumn Streng. "This was desperately needed and is such great news for the district."

During a March 26 Board of Education work session, Streng announced that the NRG Energy Inc. power plant, formerly GenOn, paid its county taxes late, resulting in the district getting $1.4 million to $1.5 million less than it previously expected.

The delay in payment caused the district to worry as the next county disbursement would have fallen after the close of fiscal year 2013.

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"The timing was really bad for the district because we failed our November levy and if we don't pass our upcoming levy in May, this would have continued to hurt us going forward into the next year," Streng said.

The school district receives two tax payments a year, typically at the end of March and August. The school district's tax revenue from NRG's late payment originally was going to be held until the next payment to schools in August.

Now, the school district will receive its tax advance next week and it will be reflected in district's fiscal year 2013.

The revenue total represented $1 million from public utilities personal property and approximately $400,000 to $500,000 in tangible personal property taxes, Streng said.

Streng contacted the Lorain County Auditor's office after she discovered collections for the fiscal year were significantly lower than in previous years because of the power plant's late payment. The auditor's office was sympathetic to the school district's situation and decided to grant the district's request for an advancement.

"It's more common for home owners to make a late tax payment, but when it's a big property taxpayer, it's rare and most definitely hurts the school district," Streng said.

It is normal for late tax payments to be delayed until the next scheduled disbursement because it enables the county to gain interest from the payment. Unfortunately, the interest accrued does not transfer to cities or school districts.

Since the late payment would not have been applied until the next fiscal year, it would have appeared that the district had a significant increase in revenue going into fiscal year 2014. Board members worried that this financial reflection would confuse voters in November.

"If we do not pass the levy and this situation occurred again, we would not have been able to operate," Streng said. "So it's definitely a relief."